Texas ATM Dispensed $100 Bills Instead Of $10s, Customers Got Free Cash

A Bank of America ATM dispensed $100 bills instead of $10 bills in Harris County, Texas, early Monday resulting in long lines and even fights outside the ATM.

Officials said a person attempted to withdraw $20 at around 11 p.m. EST Sunday (12 a.m. EST Monday) but $100 bill was dispensed by the machine. He posted it on social media and soon a line of cars quickly formed outside the ATM with several people trying to get extra cash. Officials said several arguments and fights took place while people waited outside.

The excitement continued for over two hours before a Department of Public Safety trooper alerted Harris County sheriff's deputies who immediately arrived and dispersed the crowd. They also shut the machine and stood guard to ensure no one could use it until the problem was resolved.

The bank eventually told the customers they were fortunate enough to get the extra cash and that they could keep the money. There is, however, no information about the amount of money withdrawn from the machine.

"This was an incident at a single ATM in Houston caused when a vendor incorrectly loaded $100 bills in place of $10 bills. We have resolved the matter. Customers will be able to keep the additional money dispensed,” Bank of America said in a statement Monday, Fox News reported.

Authorities said if the bank had demanded the money back, theft charges could be filed against those who refused to return.

“There's no free lunch. If you receive money that you know it is not yours, and you refuse to give it back upon demand, you can, at the discretion of the district attorney, be charged with theft," Sgt. Joshua Nowick of Harris County Sheriff's Office (Financial Crimes Unit), said, Click 2 Houston reported.

In a similar incident in 2017 in India, an Axis bank ATM machine dispensed 500 INR notes ($7) instead of 100 INR notes ($1.4), resulting in a loss of 2 lakh INR ( $2,823) to the bank in less than two hours.

“After the news spread, people in large numbers queued up outside the ATM and received more than five times the money than what they wanted to withdraw,” Gaurav Soni, a local resident, said, Hindustan Times reported.

Bank officials later said ATM vendor company’s staff made a mistake while loading money into the machine.

“Senior officials will consider legal action against the vendor, who failed to carry out proper duties while loading money in the ATM. It’s not the responsibility of bank officials,” branch manager Vipul Khandelwal said.

He added most people who got the extra cash were customers of other banks and the bank officials.